PT The Clone Wars (Filoni) and Its Impact On the PT

I grew up with the prequels in Elementary School, but as I've grown older they haven't aged as well as the original trilogy has. I personally don't have a problem with the era or the characters, it's the execution of the films.

I decided to give Episode III another shot not a few weeks ago and I have to say putting it into the context of a Clone Wars adventure it's really improved. In the context of The Clone Wars it really plays like an incredible series finale that ties up character and story arcs that have built over the show. Anakin's fall, Palpatine's rise to power, Dooku's villainy, the heroes' friendship all has built up over several season of content now rather than what little we got in Episodes II and III. With the Clone Wars in mind it's easily as good a watch as Return of the Jedi, maybe even better.

I also decided to give TPM and AoTC another try. TPM is what it is, but Clones some how manages to get worse every time I watch it. Especially Anakin's romancing...my god is that bad.

 

Agree! But I always loved ROTS. TCW made me like the whole PT more. Proud to answer your post first.

 

Haha, that's one of my favorite aspects of AotC! I love the innocence of those scenes. They feel more real to me than most modern romance scenes where it's just one cool phrase after another piled on top of attitude, attitude and more attitude! They are so unrealistic! I enjoy Anakin fumbling for words, trying to convey genuine feeling. I also love the beautiful scenery in those scenes. And of course it all culminates in my favorite final shot of Anakin's robotic hand taking Padme's as they are wed in secrecy surrounded by the droids. Every time I watch AotC I find more to like about it. It never ceases to amaze me how people react to things so differently.

 

Agreed with the OP. In some ways TCW really sets up ROTS better than the previous two films.

 

I feel much the same way. AotC has risen a lot in my estimation each time I've rewatched it lately. For one thing, it's got some of the best worldbuilding and setpieces of all the movies. The brief glimpes of daily life that we see in the streets of Coruscant and Tatooine create a real sense of place, with so much amazing detail in those scenes alone. And then there's the discomfortingly sterile and mysterious world of Kamino. The romance, too, is I think a lot more genuine and realistic than I once gave it credit for. And I like the fusion of styles throughout, from old-fashioned courtly love to noir detective movie to the old-school sci-fi feel of the arena battle.

Back to the original topic, I like TCW a lot, especially for the way it deepens the world and ties everything together. I hadn't exactly thought of RotS as a sort of series finale, although I suppose it is, in a way. Does the series specifically improve RotS for me? I'm not sure one way or the other. I think it deepens my appreciation overall for the world of the PT, so indirectly at least I guess the answer is yes.

 

I feel like TCW strayed somewhat from being a lead-in to ROTS as it went on. Once it started focusing more on it's own arcs, like Mandalore, Rex, Maul and Ahsoke, it felt more distinct, and less like a precursor to ROTS.

I still think that TPM and AOTC are all that's really needed to set up ROTS.

 

In short-no, in my opinion. Speaking strictly of ROTS, and no matter that AOTC is my favorite, I think that a great movie like ROTS doesn‘t need an improvement of such kind no matter that TCW is good ir not. I would say that for me AOTC also doesn‘t need it.
I should say that what I like in TCW are the new characters, especially Ahsoka and that they gave flesh to many Jedi who are just shown in PT. But what I cannot accept is that they made my favorite weirdo into some boring typical cartonish action hero, some standart Han Solo 2.0. I miss even the melancholic voice of Hayden that also contributes to a la James Dean type. Padme, as is presented in the movies would never by interested in such ordinary guy. And speaking about the romance.... heck, this is real cheeseness. Padme and Anakin don‘t communicate as secret husband and wife who are aware that they have only few stolen moments together but as teenagers who are dating in a careless time. I know that is the target audience of the show, but I just don‘t like it. They even elaborated some stupid love triangle so the cliched is complete, Anakin should be the typical jealous macho guy... He never been that in the movies.... I miss the courtly tormented love of the prequels. I know that those are animated series, etc. still I prefer the character arc of the PT.

 

TCW butchers the character of Anakin, but apart from that is a good animated show. For me it's like the EU, completely unrelated to the movies, but enriching the SW Universe as a whole.

 

I really don't think TCW improved anything ala the PT. It rather muddled several characters badly. Anakin, Obi-Wan, Maul, Dooku, Yoda for a few. They are hardly recognisable. Humanising some clones was a mistake.

 

I think that have aged very well. The point though is that all movies age. The PT by it's production and narrative tonality is overall far more in line with TFA and the new movies than they ever will be with the OT. The factors that made the OT the way it was made will only be best reflected in the PT through the artistry of Lucas himself.

The execution of the PT and the OT is the same because the artist is the same. The same artist doing some things the same, similar or different.

In comparison to what can be done in a TV series movies obviously have to pack a lot of things into a limited amount of time. None of the movies can escape this as they are movies and not a TV series. This goes for all the movies in a broader sense. As the new canon going forward is all about doing exactly what TCW did in terms of creating an overall context. TESB really is a rather bizarre follow-up in many ways with massive jumps in story and character. Things just don't line up very well at all. I'd say the gap between ANH and TESB needs to be addressed the most (and they have started to do that).

TFA obviously has a huge gap of time but even within the movie they do a very poor presentation of how exactly things work. Obviously in movie terms you can't get that in-depth but even the basic set-up is not at all handled well. Instead you have to look to other sources like books to fill things out.

I think it's rather brilliant myself but as Lucas said he realized that some people might not buy into what he was going for and wouldn't appreciate it. It all worked out very well as far as he was concerned:




It's really no different than anything else. It's seem to me for some fans that they wanted a certain aspect of Anakin and Ob-Wan's friendship played up that simply didn't fit into the story of the movies.

Lucas specifically had that play out in TCW in a way that didn't fit the story in the movies to that degree. It's there in both AOTC and ROTS but obviously not enough for some. As I have said though how this is different from Luke and Han I don't know. If anything we get a far better look at Anakin and Obi-Wan's relationship in the movies then ever do Luke and Han.

 

They were always fine. TCW is just a spin-off (as a whole, it has more merits than what's been released since, but it's still a mere spin-off to the movies).

 

I never felt that the CW Anakin meshed with the movie Anakin , but I often prefered him over movie Anakin .

 

I also don't think TCW improved or enhanced the PT, it really muddled things up instead by going off on some weird tangents like 1985A in Back to the Future 2. IMHO, AOTC gets better with every viewing for me. As others have said TCW is a fun spinoff, but it is a spinoff and because of that I don't accept its retcons being applied to the films.

 

Why do I even bother?

I think TCW helped to fill in some of the gaps the movies couldn't and for the most part the show was an overwhelming success despite a few shortcomings.

The PT is fine with or without it. You don't need to watch TCW in order to get the story or the characters

 

I love it all and I feel that all the movies and TV shows enrich each other! That's the honest truth.

Indeed, ROTS is a grand finale for TCW, much like AOTC is its grand opening. Some day(s), I'm gonna binge-watch them all in chronological order. I expect to be overwhelmed!

 

in terms of spin-offs CW is one of the best , altho I should say that I find very little of the spin-offs to my liking (about 10%) , there were some great CW eps , but I think it went on about as long as it needed to , I was definitely ready for something different .

 

Good thread idea!

My opinions on TCW are, to say the least, very mixed

I think it's overall a good show and definitely has a lot of good parts, but at the same time, a lot of it takes away from the PT/saga or undermines some of the aspects, in my opinion

I'd prefer it if the next meeting between Anakin and Dooku was on the Invisible Hand rather than the multiple times they've met. "My powers have doubled since we last met" is changed from the context of "Last time, you beat me, this time I'll beat you" to just him being arrogant. Part of his character, yes, but less meaningful to me

I believe Anakin also Force Chokes someone (maybe I'm going insane but was it Poggle?) when, sort of as an OT reference thing, I prefer the tragic idea that as in the OT he's famous for that ability, the first person he uses it on is his wife. Again, it makes it more meaningful to me

Darth Maul's resurrection. While I admit I think it's cool, I'd prefer he stay dead after Obi-Wan defeated him

Gotta say, I do agree with this. We get hints of adding more to clones through Cody's interactions with Obi-Wan, but he's still really not an individual

There are two angles to it. Either it's more tragic seeing the clones who got along with all the Jedi suddenly turn evil, or seeing the clones who are pretty much living battle droids who have served the Jedi without question suddenly turn on them without explanation. It's actually a bit creepier the latter way
And on a minor note.... why do the clones who survived (Rex and all those guys) into Rebels suddenly look like they've been bench pressing 500 pounds twice a day?

So yeah. That was a mouthful and mess of paragraphing

Oh, and to add on. I truly do wish the show could continue. I know most of the ideas they had for later seasons were adapted into comics. How awesome would it have been to see Darth Maul vs. General Grievous? And I saw some crazy stuff about Talzin like possessing Dooku or something? No matter what, the lightsaber duels in TCW are frigging epic

 

How's he butchered? He acts the same way that he did in the beginning of ROTS, with the callback to his anger and impatience from AOTC and then the hints of his jealousy in ROTS.

 

He's too even keel. I can't even imagine movie Anakin with an apprentice. Might just be a quality thing since the voice acting isn't always great, but I get a much more jovial sense of Anakin in the tv show.

 

Fits with him snarking about how he has to make sure the speeder he rescues Obi-Wan in was the right colour before he chose it, in AOTC. That kind of joviality is what TCW took and ran with.

 

He's even keel during the first act of ROTS and part of Act II, aside from when he kills Dooku. But in TCW, he has his moments of anger and rage.

And it was in the first act of AOTC during the Coruscant chase and in the first act of ROTS.

 

He's actually more angry in the show than in the movies, now that you mention it. I was more thinking about his normal moments. He appears a much cooler, charismatic man on the show. In the movies he's more juvenile and reserved. You can imagine show Anakin telling a joke to a room of people, not movie Anakin.

 

I was talking about exactly about this cheesiness of the first gif . In the movies he wasn't jealous. He was a little impatient, a little rushed, with some bad moments but never jealous till his fall. In the AOTC moment of range and anger the situation was completely different, and also he felt guilty and tormented after it. In TCW after he attacked Clovis he felt just anry to himself, that's all. In the movies it was very important that he transforms completely: what was just occasional moment(s) of mindless anger changed into a monstrous personality and here we see that he is even cruel.. no, he was gentle. I dislike that they practically simplified the character, they made him, well, cartoonish. Yes, it is a cartoon show, I know, I just don't like it.